Phil's Lists, Part 6: Articles on Writing

I recommend these five articles on writing because they will surely lead to others and will get you writing.

1. Elmore Leonard: "Ten Rules for Good Writing"
2. George Orwell: "Politics and the English Language"
3. Zadie Smith: Ten Good Writing Habits"
4. Walter Strunk and E. B. White: "Eleven Composition Principles"
5. Kurt Vonnegut: "Writing with Style" 

Phil's Lists, Part 5: Exhibits

I often see ideas about human interaction and struggles through paintings, photographs, and structures, especially when they appear in retrospectives of an artist's entire career. This list includes painters, sculptors, and architects whose body of work has exhibited in Brooklyn Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, New York Academy of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Whitney Museum of American Art. Keep an eye out for them if their work shows up near you.

1. Jean-Michel Basquiat
2. Romare Bearden
3. Chuck Close
4. Salvador Dali
5. Richard Diebenkorn
6. Arthur Dove
7. Audrey Flack
8. Frank Gehry
9. Keith Haring
10. Edward Hopper
11. Frida Kahlo
12. Wassily Kandinsky
13. William Kentridge
14. Edward Kienholz
15. Lee Krasner
16. Barbara Kruger
17. Jacob Lawrence
18. Fernand Leger
19. Piet Mondrian
20. Archibald Motley, Jr.
21. Edvard Munch
22. Pablo Picasso
23. Diego Rivera
24. Sebastiao Salgado
25. Bill Viola
26. Frank Lloyd Wright
27. Andrew Wyeth

Phil's Lists, Part 4: Activities

Writers need inspiration, not only to drive themselves to write but to discover ideas to write about. My activities list has always served me well. While I am lucky to have boundless activities from which to choose in the New York City area, most communities provide similar local opportunities.

1. Libraries - Get those books about whatever topics interest you for free.
2. Theater - Watch live drama to hear how dialogue comes to life.
3. Museums - Prep your visit by reading about the art exhibits you're about to see.
4. Music - Catch live concerts to capture a deeper meaning of music.
5. Travel - Go home or the home of your ancestors or just anywhere that isn't home to gain new perspectives on life.
6. Lectures - Check out local presentations by scholars and experts on a broad range of topics, often sponsored by universities and libraries.
7. Readings - Attend writer's festivals, poetry jams, and storytelling events to enrich your frames of reference and engage your intellect. 
8. Webcasts - View massive open online courses and single web events to stay current on topics of interest.  
9. Parks - Visit community, state, and national parks to get a deeper understanding of your environment and heritage. 

Phil's Lists, Part 3: Magazines

What magazines or journals should a writer read? It depends on the type of writer you are, so here two lists, one for the business writer and the other for the creative writer, with a closing list for either's self-development.

Business Writing
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Technical Communication Quarterly
Technical Communication

Creative Writing
Poets and Writers
Writer's Digest
The Writer
The Dramatist
American Theatre

General
Atlantic
Economist
New Yorker
New York Review of Books

Phil's Lists, Part 2: Books for Business Writers

Since I often field the question about a good reference book for business writers, I decided to list some right here:

• The Business Writer's Handbook is an easy reference, as its entries appear in alphabetical order, and they include writing models as well as detail explanations and numerous cross-references.
• Writing That Works has been a long-time standard because its tips are practical and its examples are relevant.
• The Elements of Business Writing mirrors the classic Strunk and White The Elements of Style in structure, but its focus is business writing.
• The Business Style Handbook considers business writing from the perspective of electronic communication better than most business guidebooks.
• The Art of On-the-Job Writing, my book, follows the writing process in shaping a business document from conception to completion. 

These ought to keep the business writer busy.

Phil's Lists, Part 1: Author Interviews

Lists are such an important part of our culture. We make lists not only for our off-day chores and travel bags, but for information we need to know and goals we want to achieve. For this reason, I begin this 20-part series on lists that matter to me as a writer and teacher. They might also matter to you if you read WORD ON THE LINE in your continued development as a writer. In these lists, I mention sources for your review, but hyperlinks occasionally become obsolete, and you might find even better sources than these I recommend. So happy researching.

I begin the series with instructive and inspirational interviews of five established authors.

• I like the way James Baldwin stands up to William F. Buckley in  this famous 1965 political debate. I share it not so much to draw attention to Baldwin's literary powers but to shed light on the author's ethical obligation.
• Harold Bloom, the legendary critic, holds court in a humorous, insightful interview about reading and literature at the ripe age of 81.
• Novelist and essayist Joan Didion speaks about her two most recent nonfiction books and her approach to writing.
• Game-changing British playwright and Nobel laureate Harold Pinter talks about his writing process in the first half of his Nobel lecture; you can skip the back half if you don't like his politics.
• Sam Shepard, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and actor, talks about a broad range of topics, including how we invent myths of ourselves.

On Demand: Evaluation Reports

The Well-Crafted Evaluation Report, one of my most recent webinars offered through Audio Solutionz, is available for purchase. It examines planning, status, and completion reports on programs and projects from a wide range of industries.

My Audio Solutions webinars are convenient and inexpensive ways to capture key information needed for improving work-related writing skills.